Wife, 76, 'shoots dead terminally ill husband in hospital before 4-hr standoff'
An elderly woman accused of killing her terminally husband has asked to be released from prison.
Ellen Gilland, 76, was initially charged with first-degree murder last month after police said she fatally shot Jerry Gilland, 77, in a suicide pact.
However, she had not been able to carry through with killing herself after shooting Mr Gilland at AdventHealth Daytona Beach hospital in Florida, USA, police claim.
Following the alleged incident on January 21, Gilland engaged officers in a four-hour standoff before being distracted by a nonlethal explosive and arrested.
She is being held at the Volusia County Jail awaiting trial.
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Gilland was initially charged with first degree murder (AP)
Police allege the couple had agreed a murder-suicide pact (Facebook)Last week, the accused saw her charges reduced to self-murder/manslaughter and aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer.
And her legal team is hoping to have her released on bond, Fox News reports.
In a motion appealing for a hearing filed on Wednesday, Gilland's attorney Matthew Ferry said: "None of the charges against Ms Gilland are capital offenses or offenses punishable by life imprisonment.
"Therefore, Ms. Gilland is entitled to pretrial release."
Cops screamed at Gilland to drop her weapon during the stand off (Daytona Beach PD)Gilland is next due to appear in court for a pre-trial hearing on March 22.
Police Chief Jakari Young said Mr Gilland "wanted her to end this" if his unnamed illness got any worse.
Mr Gilland is understood to have planned to take his own life "but he didn't have the strength" and so they hatched the murder-suicide plan, he added.
"But she decided she couldn’t go through with it."
Gilland was taken out of the hospital in a wheelchair with her hands bound (Daytona Beach PD)Two hospital staff heard a gunshot coming from Mr Gilland's room and saw his wife sitting beside his bed.
The patient was described as being unresponsive in a pool of blood, according to investigators.
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Gilland aimed the gun at the two staff, as well as a third, and ordered them to leave the room, police claim.
Nearby rooms were all evacuated which the police chief said was a "logistical nightmare" with some patients on ventilators.
Mr Gilland's room was surrounded by officers who told his wife to drop her weapon.
Eventually, the explosive was used and SWAT members entered the room and attempted to use a stun gun on the accused but it failed to subdue her.
Gilland was arrested after firing a shot into the ceiling and then dropping the gun, a police report added.
She was pictured being escorted out of the hospital in a wheelchair with her hands bound.
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